« AZ-Gov: Republicans Scared of Janet Napolitano | Main | VT-Sen: Will MoveOn Back Bernie Sanders? »
Friday, April 22, 2005
2006 Senate: Cheney and Reid on "Nuclear Option"
Posted by Bob BrighamWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday threw his weight behind Republican efforts to ban Senate filibusters against Bush administration judicial nominees, in a move that would set up a bitter confrontation with Democrats.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid responds:
In the span of three minutes, the vice president managed to reinvent 200 years of Senate history and ignore the fact that Congress has already approved 205 of this administration’s nominees. Apparently, a 95 percent confirmation rate is not enough for this president. He wants it all, even if it means shattering the checks and balances in our government in order to put radical judges on the bench.
Last week, I met with the president and was encouraged when he told me he would not become involved in Republican efforts to break the Senate rules. Now, it appears he was not being honest, and that the White House is encouraging this raw abuse of power.
It is disturbing that Republicans have so little respect for the separation of powers established by our founding fathers. Based on his comments last week, I had hoped that the president was prepared to join Democrats in taking up the work of the American people, but it is clear this is no longer the case. If the White House and Congress insists on proceeding down this road, Democrats will do all we can to ensure that Congress pursues an agenda the American people can be proud of.
So Bush is going back on his word to join a right-wing power grab. This is a raw abuse of power by the Republican Congress and the GOP's own polls show that the backlash will be severe.
The Republicans know this is wrong and they know it will hurt the Republican Party. Crazy.
Posted at 02:43 PM in 2006 Elections - Senate | Technorati